BRITAIN could “cripple” Spain if a war was to break out over Gibraltar, a former Royal Navy commander has claimed.

Tensions regarding the future of the British overseas territory have risen after it emerged there was an EU proposal to give the Spanish government a veto on any decision regarding Gibraltar when the UK leaves the bloc.

Rear-Admiral Chris Parry, a former director of operational capability at the Ministry of Defence, said: “We could cripple Spain in the medium term and I think the Americans would probably support us too.

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We are probably three times more powerful than they are

Rear-Admiral Chris Parry

“In terms of military capability we would vastly outnumber them and our capacity to do them harm is far greater.

“We are significantly more powerful than them, if it came to it we are probably three times more powerful than they are.”

Mr Parry’s remarks come after former Conservative leader Lord Howard claimed Theresa May “would go to war” to defend Gibraltar – similarly to how Margaret Thatcher went to war with Argentina regarding the Falkland Islands.

Despite the increasing rhetoric over the future of the island, Rear-Admiral Parry admitted he did not believe current tensions would boil over to military conflict.

He added: “If the Government wants to talk big over Gibraltar, or indeed anywhere else, they have to invest appropriately in the military capacity to back that up.

"We are a lot less powerful than we were during the Falklands and we are less sustainable over time. Our capacity for actually enforcing our national will in military terms is significantly less.

"Our war fighting assets are weak after years of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and because of the disingenuous way in which the Government has resourced defence.”

Yet he warned: “Spain should learn from history that it is never worth taking us on and that we could still singe the King of Spain’s beard.”

Gibraltar’s chief Fabian Picardo has insisted the Rock will remain part of Britain despite reports Theresa May ignored his wish to mention the peninsula in her Article 50 letter to the EU last Wednesday.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister said we will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes, nor will we ever enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content."